Bill is ready for a drink just halfway through his first day of training on Picon. Most of the presentations so far involve things he already is aware of, making it difficult to focus, his mind drifting to the conversation he had with Jean the night before.
Bill, the real Laura is worth it.
… she's too fierce to lose herself completely. She'll fight her way back and when she does, she'll be a force.
He has no doubt that the real Laura is worth it. But how long will it take her to fight her way back? Will it only complicate matters if he tries to have a relationship with her when she so clearly hasn't recovered from her previous relationship? But if he isn't there to support her, will he lose her forever?
He sits alone at a table in the conference room after filling his plate from the buffet style lunch provided to the attendees. His mind goes in circles thinking about Laura and he's becoming exhausted from the turmoil it's causing. He doesn't even notice when someone approaches his table, standing by his side.
"Can I join you?" a man's voice asks.
"Sure," he says, looking up to a see a tall slender man in a military uniform with a plate of food. "Kind of boring this morning," the man mumbles as he sits down, then takes a bite of food.
"Very boring. Hopefully, this afternoon will be better. Either way, I'll be ready for a stiff drink tonight."
"Me, too. I know a couple of good places – wanna join me?"
Bill looks at the man who is close to his age, considering his offer. "Sure, why not. I'm Bill Adama."
"Nice to meet you, Bill," the man says extending his hand. "I'm Saul Tigh."
Laura arrives at the house shortly before 6 pm, freshly showered and choosing to go with the natural look she adopted the day before, make-up free with air-dried hair. She brings with her a list of items that she intends to retrieve from the basement, including more of her shoes and clothing, her notes and laptop, the Searider Falcon book Bill gifted her, the Dhilwayo book of poetry with the rose from her freshman year, along with several other books so she has something interesting to read in her free time.
It feels strange to Laura to have to ring the doorbell when she arrives at the house. When Aunt Sara answers the door, she pulls her into a warm embrace. "It's good to see you, Laura. How are you?"
"I'm doing alright, Aunt Sara," she replies stepping into the foyer.
"You look good. I always liked your natural hair color the best," she says with a friendly smile.
Cheryl comes running out of the bathroom toward the living room with her arms straight out from her sides pretending to be a viper. When she sees her big sister standing in the foyer, she breaks her trajectory and runs to her as fast as she can, launching herself into Laura's arms.
"Laurie! Guess what I am!"
"A viper?" she asks, giving her a big hug.
"Yeh! I'm going to be a viper pilot just like Bill! Where is he?"
"Sorry, sweetie, he's not coming tonight. Maybe some other time."
"When?"
"I don't know. He's on Picon right now," Laura informs her, hoping that will stop her questions.
"Put me down, I want to fly some more!" Cheryl demands, then zooms away into the living room.
"Hey, sis," Sandra says walking from her bedroom.
"I'll let you two talk," Aunt Sara says excusing herself.
"Hi, Sandra. How are you?"
"I'm great, really great. Since I can't leave the house, Daddy set up some revolving dates for me, kind of like speed dating, so I constantly have boys coming over. I found a really nice guy. Thinking about getting married soon, having a couple of kids, you know, the usual stuff."
"That's awfully nice of Daddy to do that for you."
"He's a good dad, a really good dad, the best dad ever. We're lucky to have him," she says tilting her head to the side and looking at her older sister bashfully, unsure if Laura will forgive her for arguing with her about Bill and Richard.
"I think so, too. Come here," she says holding her arms out.
"I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you the other day," Sandra says hugging her.
"Don't apologize. You were right."
"Girls, dinner's ready!" Dave calls from the kitchen.
Laura and Sandra walk hand in hand to the table where Dave is placing a large bowl of spaghetti and homemade meatballs. "Daddy, you're wearing an apron!" Laura exclaims with a chuckle. "Can I help you with anything?"
"No, I've got it all under control. You are the guest tonight, so please have a seat." He places a basket of breadsticks on the table next to a lettuce salad, then removes his apron and seats himself at the head of the table.
The afternoon training sessions aren't a whole lot better than the morning ones, and Bill finds himself constantly thinking of Laura. One minute he worries about her, the next he's angry with her, then his pride takes over and he thinks he should walk away, then he cycles through all of the emotions again. He's sick of feeling this way, so he finally makes a decision. I don't need this - I have to forget about her.
"Should I change into civilian clothes before we go out?" he asks Saul immediately when the training ends for the day, ready to get started for his life post-Laura.
"You will definitely want to wear civvies. We can take a cab to a nice little strip club on the other side of town. Lots of hot single women hang out there hoping to meet pilots, so make sure your swagger is on full display. Strippers, music, dancing, drinking - it's a guaranteed good time."
"That's exactly what I need. I'll meet you in the lobby in 15 minutes."
"Aunt Sara, are you dating anyone yet?" Sandra asks as she passes her the breadsticks.
"My goodness, no, I'm not even divorced yet," she replies.
"But you can still date. I can help you create a profile on a dating website, maybe Senior Singles, or you could try some of the others, too. It might be harder to find guys your age on the other ones, though, but maybe you want a younger man?" Sandra asks.
"I haven't even considered dating. I'm not sure I'd want to get married again."
"You don't have to look for a serious relationship – maybe just some hookups for casual sex," Sandra states matter-of-factly.
"Sandra! Drop the subject!" Dave warns. He then narrows his eyes at his middle daughter, looking at her suspiciously. "How do you know so much about dating websites?"
"Well…I may have looked at a few."
"You're not on one, are you?" Dave asks worriedly.
Sandra stares at her father realizing he is going to be very upset with her response, so she tries to preface it in a way that might temper his anger. "In the interest of being open and honest and promoting better communication among us family members, yes, I created a profile on one. My friends and I share it and use it to chat with men, but we pretend that we're a 25-year-old law student and we only chat, we don't meet for dates."
Laura chokes on her food at her sister's confession. Dave grimaces at Sandra, then takes a deep breath and looks at the ceiling trying to control his anger.
"Take it easy, little brother," Sara says placing a supportive hand on his arm. "Looks like your hair just turned a bit grayer."
"Why would you do something like that?" Dave asks Sandra, then clenches his jaw awaiting her response.
"I don't know," she replies quietly. "I guess we're just bored."
"You do this at school?"
"Yeh."
Cheryl chimes in with a well-timed "Uh-oh." Laura stares at her and shakes her head for her to be quiet.
"Excuse me," Dave says, abruptly leaving the table.
"I'll talk to him," Sara says, following him out of the dining area and up the steps to his office.
"Sandra, my Gods – what were you thinking?!" Laura scolds.
"I don't know. We just wanted to have some fun, see what it would be like to flirt with older men."
"You're deceiving them and you're way too young!"
"But we don't meet them! They'll never know!"
"You and how many friends share this account?"
"Five of us."
"What if one of the five of you decides to go ahead and meet some guy because they think he's charming? And what if that guy turns out to be a creep? You girls aren't experienced enough to know how easy it is to be deceived on these websites. You might think you're chatting with a nice 20-year-old guy but he's actually some 40-year-old sex offender looking for his next victim. I know you've heard horror stories in the news about this. It's not a game!"
"But that's why we agreed to never meet them!"
"No, Sandra, this isn't okay," Laura says flustered at her inability to make her sister understand. "Some of these creeps know how to track your location through your phone if you're chatting with them on the app. What would you do if one of them showed up at the house because he tracked you here?"
Sandra's eyes widen as she considers the possibility that one of the men she has chatted with might track her. "I didn't know they could do that."
"There's a reason they don't allow anyone under the age of 18 on those websites. You have to be so careful when you use them, and most kids don't think about any of that. Delete the account right now and then delete the app from your phone."
"Okay, I will," Sandra sighs, taking a bite of food.
"Now, Sandra!"
"Alright, geez, I'm doing it right now!" she says, pulling out her phone and logging into the account, turning the screen to Laura so she can see.
"Is that my picture? You used my picture for your fake profile?!"
"I'm sorry! We needed someone pretty so we'd get more chat requests."
"For frak's sake, please tell me you didn't use my name, too!"
"Wellll…just your first name. We made up a last name," Sandra replies nervously.
"Give me your phone."
"Why?"
"I want to see the profile."
Sandra slides her phone across the table, then places her hands over her eyes, waiting for her sister to explode.
"Laurie Adama?! Gods, Sandra!"
Laura continues to the "About Me" section of the profile to read the fake biography. "I'm Laurie - a 25-year-old sexy and single law student looking for a good time! When I'm not going to law school, I work as an exotic dancer to help pay my tuition. I love literature, long walks on the beach, and giving lap dances to the right man! Request a chat if you think you are my Mr. Perfect!"
"Oh…I can't even…Sandra…." Laura seethes, glaring at her sister. She suddenly stands, taking the phone, marching up the steps to her father's office. "DADDY!" she yells on the way. When she arrives at his office, she flings the door open to find her father sitting at his desk, Aunt Sara sitting across from him. "You need to see this!" she says angrily, setting Sandra's phone in front of him.
"I'll go watch Cheryl and Sandra," Sara says, quickly leaving the room.
"Look at this! She used my picture and my name and wrote this fake profile! What if someone sees me on the street and recognizes my photo?!"
Dave looks at the picture and the profile, then slams the phone down on his desk and yells "WHAT THE FRAK?!" loud enough that everyone at the dining table downstairs hears him.
Sara finds Cheryl sitting quietly at the table eating her spaghetti while Sandra sits with her hands over her face sobbing. "Sandra, honey, tell me what you did," she says sitting next to her and putting her arm around her shoulders.
"I keep frakking everything up! I can't do anything right anymore!"
Bill and Saul find front row seats near the center of the stage and order a couple of beers from the topless waitress. The strippers are warming up in their robes, getting ready to begin their routines for the night. Bill glances around the large room which is barely half full. "Not many people here tonight."
"Things'll pick up in about an hour. If you don't show up early, you don't get good seats, and I'm telling you, this place has the best strippers so you definitely want front row."
Over the next hour, people start trickling in and at 8 pm, the first stripper takes the stage. By this time Bill and Saul are each on their third beer, feeling happy and relaxed but not quite as buzzed as Bill would like to be. They watch the stripper as she gyrates against a pole, eventually removing her top, and crawling along the stage in front of the crowd while patrons stuff money in her g-string.
"They get better as the night goes on," Saul says. "The newer ones start off each evening, then the skilled, more experienced ones close the place down."
As they continue to watch the less experienced strippers dance and writhe around the stage, they swap war stories and chug more beer, eventually switching to shots of whiskey. Another hour passes, and now both Bill and Saul are fairly drunk, cat-calling the strippers, even some of the male ones. A thin red-haired young woman takes the stage next, wearing a red fishnet body suit with thick straps in just the right places to hide her nipples and private parts. Bill inhales sharply when she marches to the pole right in front of him, locking eyes with him as she slides her back down the pole with her legs spread open toward his face.
"You like the red-head, huh?" Saul smiles. "Excellent choice."
I really do like the red-head. The stripper continues to slide up and down the pole, all the time watching Bill's eyes which are hungrily feasting on her body. She drops to the stage slowly crawling to him on her hands and knees, crooking her finger at him to lean forward, inviting him to stuff some money in the netting by her left breast. He roles up a bill and places it as close to her nipple as possible while gazing deep into her eyes. He swears he sees a twinkle there that reminds him of Laura, or maybe it's just the beer goggles he's wearing along with wishful thinking.
She crawls across the stage and back, gathering up twice as much money as any other stripper so far, then crawls back to Bill and rests on her knees in front of him, her legs spread wide. She pouts at him, runs her fingers through his thick hair, then pulls his face between her legs gyrating her hips toward him, stopping short of touching him. He rolls up another bill to place in the fishnet between her legs, but she stops him, biting her finger, signaling that she wants him to place it there with his mouth. He slips the bill between his teeth, then carefully slides it into the fishnet between her legs. She wiggles one eyebrow at him when he finishes, then blows him a kiss. Before she exits the stage, she shoots him a sultry look over her shoulder.
"I think she likes you," Saul snickers.
"She reminds me too much of someone. Not sure I want to pursue her tonight." I have to forget about Laura.
"Got a red-headed girlfriend back home?"
"I had a red-headed girlfriend back home, up until a couple of days ago," Bill says, slamming the rest of his drink and ordering another, irritated with himself for getting caught up in watching the red-headed stripper.
"Well, there are plenty of other women here tonight to help you move on. The three over there in the corner have been watching you for a while. Not a red-head in that trio."
Bill turns around to see a blond and two brunettes eyeing him from across the room. He stops the waitress and tells her to buy them the next round of drinks on him. When the waitress delivers the drinks to their table, she points to Bill as the man who paid for them, who then holds his whiskey up toward them in a toast. They eagerly grab their drinks and quickly walk across the room toward him.
"Hey, there, thanks for the drinks," one of the brunettes says. "I'm Christy. This is Carly," she says pointing to the other darker haired brunette, "and this is Carolanne," she points at the blond.
"Nice to meet you, ladies. I'm Bill, this is Saul," Bill says, letting his eyes wander over the three women. All of them are wearing skintight dresses with plunging necklines. Carolanne has a short dress that barely covers her ass while Christy and Carly wear dresses that are slightly longer, but not by much.
"Hi, Saul," they all say in unison.
"Are you both military?" Carolanne asks, placing her hand on Bill's shoulder.
"We were both viper pilots during the war," Bill replies.
"Ohhhh, viper pilots! Did you hear that, ladies?" Carly asks with a huge smile on her face.
"We did. What brings you men here tonight?" asks Carolanne, leaning into Bill while he places an arm around her.
"Just wanted to relax and have a good time. What about you?" Bill replies, searching Carolanne's face and liking what he sees.
"Same thing," they all giggle. "Maybe we can help each other out?" Carolanne asks while Christy leans into Bill's other side.
"This next one's mine," Saul says suddenly, pointing at the stage.
"You mean your favorite?" Bill asks.
"No, she's my girlfriend."
"Guess we're all just going to have to share you, Bill," Carly says, placing her hand on his upper thigh. When he doesn't try to stop her, Christy and Carolanne each place a hand on his leg, too. Carolanne, the more adventurous of the group, lets her hand gently slide between his legs, checking out his manhood. He turns and gives her a roguish look, letting her know he approves. He lets his hand drop to her ass, giving it a squeeze, and pulls her in for a kiss.
Saul's girlfriend turns out to be the best stripper of the night, having amazing strength and flexibility working the pole in front of them. Saul hoots and hollers at her, as do Bill and the three women surrounding him, all of them stuffing money into her g-string at the end of her routine.
"She's frakking hot, Saul," Bill says slapping him on the back.
"I know, and she's all mine," he says proudly.
"Does she want to party with us later?" Carolanne asks.
"She's not into sharing me," Saul replies, which causes all three women to pout.
"She could party with us, and you could watch," Carly offers with a coy smile.
"I'm not into sharing her either, but thanks for the offer," Saul replies, kissing the back of Carly's hand.
"I have a hotel room near the base," Bill whispers in Carolanne's ear, who places a gentle kiss to his neck. "We can take a cab and party there."
"Give us a minute to freshen up first, then we'll be back," Carolanne says, gesturing for her friends to join her in the ladies' room.
Shortly after they leave, Saul's girlfriend joins him. "Who's your friend, Saul?" she asks, taking a long sip of Saul's whiskey.
"Ellen, this is Bill. Bill, meet Ellen."
"You're fantastic, Ellen!" Bill says smiling at her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Best one of the night!"
"Thank you, Bill. Looks like you made a few friends tonight."
"Have you decided which one to take back to the hotel?" Saul asks.
"Who says I have to choose? My room has a king size bed and I plan to use every inch of it."
"Well!" Ellen exclaims, her eyes lighting up. "I like your style, Bill," she says winking at him while she takes another sip of whiskey.
Saul looks at his new friend impressed. "Think you can handle all three?"
"I know I can."
Carolanne, Christy, and Carly all stand before the mirror in the ladies' room touching up their makeup and messing with their hair. "Ladies, I have a favor to ask," Carolanne says turning to them. "I really like this guy. Any chance I can talk you out of going with us? I want him to myself."
"Ahhh, nooo, Carolanne! I like him, too," whines Christy.
"I'll owe both of you. I can bail on the next two if you let me have this one. I have a good feeling about him. Please?" she begs.
"Christy, we both bailed on one for you last week. You owe both of us. Let her have him," Carly says.
"Oh, alright," Christy says. "Good luck. But I want all the details tomorrow so I know what I missed out on."
Carolanne saunters alone back to Bill who is still chatting and laughing with Saul and Ellen. Putting her arms around him, she nips at his ear, then whispers, "Would you be upset if I want you all to myself tonight? I'll make it worth your while. You can put it anywhere you want."
Bill pulls back to look in her eyes, the heat in his gaze reflected back at him. "Let's go," he growls. Goodbye, Laura.
